‘Establishing a Christian Pilgrimage Trail in Louisiana’

 

Pilgrimages are one of the oldest acts of devotion practiced by Christians.  Whether to the Holy Land to venerate the places linked with the life of the Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, or to the relics, shrines, graves, etc., associated with His friends, the saints and angels, pilgrimages are a way for Christians to escape the mundane world and encounter God’s Grace in a powerful way.  The reasons for going vary – to seek healing for a bodily or spiritual ailment, for guidance in life or help with a task, as an act of thanksgiving, or simply to be near to the All-Holy Trinity – but pilgrimages to holy sites themselves were a constant in Christendom.

Until modern times, that is.  Thanks to the Reformation, the Enlightenment, and other revolutions, faith weakened, skepticism grew, and Christian pilgrimage fell out of favor.

However, man’s desire for a transcendent encounter outside the confines of his usual routine did not disappear.  But for its fulfilment, it was diverted to secular destinations:  an ancient monument, a well-known battlefield, the home of a famous statesman, a beautiful landscape, a giant sports stadium, and so on.

We see this at work even here at the South:  There is the Louisiana Music Trail and the Mississippi Blues Trail, the Louisiana Civil Rights Trail, various Halls of Fame, and others like them, upon or within which one can learn about and celebrate the various people involved in music, politics, etc.  And those are fine; we should honor people who have done particularly praiseworthy deeds or made great strides in the arts or contributed notably in some other way to well-being of society.

There are famous places on the existing routes like Haney’s Big House:

‘William Haney was a twentieth-century African American businessman in Ferriday, who operated Haney’s Big House, a café, bar, and nightclub that showcased Black artists from across the South, including performers like Ray Charles, Redd Foxx, and B. B. King’ (‘Haney's Big House’, explorelouisiana.com);

And the Ardoin Statue in Opelousas:

‘One of southern Louisiana’s first great recording artists was Creole accordionist and singer Amédé Ardoin. At the time his records appeared, between 1930 and 1934, the terms “Cajun music,” “Creole music,” and “zydeco” were not in use, and zydeco as it is heard today had yet to evolve. Accordingly, there is some debate as to how Ardoin’s music should be classified. What is clear, however, is that Ardoin’s inspired musicianship, as expressed in a seamless, soulful blend of two-steps, blues, and waltzes, played a crucial role in forging these styles’ (‘Amédé Ardoin Statue’, explorelouisiana.com).

But these can only do much to nurture the human soul.  For that we must ascend to a higher spiritual plane.

To that end, thanks be to God, by drawing the attention of our French ancestors upon Himself, we have the makings of a pretty good Christian pilgrimage trail here in Louisiana.  It can be discerned by tracing a line through the parishes named after holy people or holy events, mostly in south Louisiana (St John the Baptist, Ascension, etc.; this map is helpful).  There are cities, too, like St Amant.

We can see the contrast between the secular pilgrimage and a potential Louisiana Christian pilgrimage by looking at a couple of potential sites, St Helena Parish and the city of St Amant in Ascension Parish.

St Amant receives her name from St Amandus of Elnon, a remarkable missionary in western Europe:

‘HE was born near Nantes, of pious parents, lords of that territory. At twenty years of age, he retired into a small monastery in the little isle of Oye, near that of Rhé. He had not been there above a year, when his father found him out, and made use of every persuasive argument in his power to prevail with him to quit that state of life. To his threats of disinheriting him, the saint cheerfully answered: “Christ is my only inheritance.” The saint went to Tours, and a year after to Bourges, where he lived near fifteen years under the direction of St. Austregisilus, the bishop, in a cell near the cathedral. His clothing was a single sack-cloth, and his sustenance barley-bread and water. After a pilgrimage to Rome, he was ordained in France a missionary bishop, without any fixed see, in 628, and commissioned to preach the faith to infidels. He preached the gospel in Flanders, and among the Sclavi in Carinthia and other provinces near the Danube: but being banished by King Dagobert, whom he had boldly reproved for his scandalous crimes, he preached to the pagans of Gascony and Navarre. Dagobert soon recalled him, threw himself at his feet to beg his pardon, and caused him to baptize his new-born son, Saint Sigebert, afterwards king. The idolatrous people about Ghent were so savage, that no preacher durst venture himself amongst them. This moved the saint to choose that mission; during the course of which he was often beaten, and sometimes thrown into the river: he continued preaching, though for a long time he saw no fruit, and supported himself by his labour. The miracle of his raising a dead man to life, at last opened the eyes of the barbarians, and the country came in crowds to receive baptism, destroying the temples of their idols with their own hands’ (Rev Alban Butler, ‘St. Amandus, Bishop and Confessor’, bartleby.com).

And that is only part of the amazing story of St Amant.

St Helena Parish is named for St Helen, the mother of the Holy Emperor of Rome Constantine the Great, who both performed great deeds on behalf of the Church:

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The rest is at https://thehayride.com/2024/10/garlington-establishing-a-christian-pilgrimage-trail-in-louisiana/.

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Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England, South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð, unworthy though we are!

Anathema to the Union!